17 Nights

Ava sat crumbled on the floor of her apartment, her knees tucked into her chest. Her head leaning on the wall, she turned her head to the side and looked at a familiar clear orange pill bottle on her sink.

She had returned from Marc's apartment a crying mess over an hour ago. When she apologized, Marc refused to acknowledge her and remained stony. He just kept looking at his bleeding hand and whenever Ava went to touch his arm he would flinch and jerk away.

It broke her heart but she couldn't blame him. She was being stupid and careless. She knew that she wasn't thinking straight and she was just being rash.

Ava ran a hand through her long blonde hair and got up. She shakily picked up the orange plastic bottle and stared it down. She wanted to take it so badly. Her mind was telling her that she needed it. She needed an escape.

Opening the bottle, she let out a loud and strangled sob and set down the bottle of Ambien.

When her friend, Chris, had died, Ava started experiencing insomnia. Her body and mind refused to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she would see him. His mouth starting to foam, his body shaking violently and his eyes rolling back. She could hear his cries for help and people screaming and panicking.

Her therapist prescribed Ambien to help her sleep and had been providing her with the pills since to help her cope and sleep. Ambien knocked her out on days she would remember that day, so she wouldn't dream.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ava looked at herself in the mirror. She was a mess. Her hair was damp, her make up was running, her forehead had accumulated a fair amount of sweat and her eyes were bloodshot.

Letting out a frustrated and angry groan, she slapped the bottle away from her sight, falling all over the floor. She had already done so many stupid things, overdosing was not something she was going to add. She promised herself and Chris that she would never become dependant on drugs. That she wasn't going to become Chris.

Ava let out a strangled sob when she heard a knock on her door. Cautiously, she walked to the front door, fixing her face and hair as much as she could. It also didn't help that she started to feel dizzy.

"Ava, please open the door," Marc begged, knocking on the door harder. He didn't feel right just opening the door with the key she gave him. With the way he treated her, he didn't feel right acting like her boyfriend.

Her ears perked and her heart leaped when she heard Marc's voice. She hoped that he had come over to forgive her and to talk things out. They had so much to talk about.

Ava eagerly opened the door, her eyes streaming her tears. "Marc," she whispered.

As soon as the door opened, Marc ran up to Ava and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry. I never should have treated you the way I did," he apologized.

When Ava left his apartment a crying mess, Marc started to think about how he acted towards her. He had every right to be mad at her, but she did as well. Marc chose to be with Frankie instead of listening to Ava for even a moment.

If he was in her position, he probably would have done the same thing. He probably would have been scared to raise the baby alone, but he wouldn't have gotten the baby aborted. That was the only thing separating him and Ava.

Feeling happy to be back in Marc's arms, she only managed to treasure the feeling for a moment as she started to feel light-headed. "Marc, I-I feel dizzy," she slurred before passing out in his arms.

*

Marc Staal watched as his girlfriend, Ava Hall, slowly woke up. He had never been more scared in his life then when she collapsed in his arms. He quickly rushed her to the hospital thinking that it was the result of her recent abortion. He thought that there were complications.

The doctors ruled it as stress and exhaustion. It also didn't help that she wasn't eating properly, especially since she was eating for two. This confused Marc, Ava said that she had gotten an abortion, but the doctors said that there was no indication that and when they ran the tests, she was in fact, pregnant.

Marc sat beside Ava, thinking long and hard about the whole ordeal and realized that she never said anything about proceeding with the abortion. All she did was apologize and Marc being the ass he was, didn't let her talk.

Ava woke up to the sounds of some kind of beeping and someone holding on to her hand. Slowly opening her eyes, Ava tried to adjust them. Scanning the room, she realized she was in a hospital and Marc was soundly sleeping beside her.

She wondered how long she was out and why it had happened to her. She then started to panic, realizing that if she was in a hospital they could have put something in her that could harm the baby seeing as Marc didn't know that she was still pregnant.

"Marc," she whispered and lightly nudged him. "Marc, wake up."

Marc stirred, and quickly rose his head when he realized that Ava was calling. "Ava, how are you feeling?"

"The baby, is the baby okay? Did the doctors put anything in me?" she asked her voice in a panic. She started to remove all the things stuck in her and tried to get up.

Marc quickly jumped to his feet and stopped her. "Babe relax, the doctors took some tests because I told them that you did get an abortion, but your records didn't say that. They said that you fainted because of exhaustion and that you weren't eating properly."

"And the baby?"

"The baby is fine," he reassured her and sat back down on the chair beside her bed. "We really need to talk."

Nodding, Ava looked at her lap and spoke. "Yeah we do. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. I wanted to get an abortion," she started. "I was a hundred percent sure of it, but then I was in the office and my doctor asked me for the third time and I started to panic. I-I just couldn't do it and I couldn't do it to you," Ava confessed, looking at Marc with tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. "I couldn't get rid of something that was a part of you and me." Ava let out a sob.

Marc got up and hugged her. How happy he was that she didn't get rid of the baby and actually wanted it, he couldn't put into words. He was more than thankful that she kept the baby. "Shh, its okay," he cooed and petted her hair. "I'll be there for you and the baby I promise. I'm not going anywhere, even when you want me gone," he promised her.

Hearing that from Marc, Ava felt so much more relieved, knowing that her baby wasn't going to have an absent father. That she and Marc were going to try and make it work, for the sake of their relationship and the baby that resulted in it.